The Yetis and The Basics show promise at the Fruited Plain

Get excited, Dordt College, because something special may be developing on campus right before our eyes.

Last Saturday, the band known as The Yetis took the stage at the Fruited Plain Café to play covers of their favorite rock songs. For those unfamiliar with the band, The Yetis are made up of frontman freshman Joseph Bartels on vocals and rhythm guitar, freshman Henry Rynders on lead guitar, junior Caleb Smith on bass guitar, junior Daniel Amin on the keys and junior Sam Roskamp on the drums.

The group’s Saturday night set consisted of 13 songs from a range of artists including the Beatles, Modest Mouse and the Black Keys. This diverse program kept the enthusiastic crowd engaged for the duration of the show, which got better and better as the night went on.

At this point, all of you astute and experienced readers may be wanting to laugh and say, “Oh really, a band at the Fruited Plain got better and better as the night went on, eh? Are you sure that it wasn’t just the beer getting better and better?”

To this comment, I reply: “Shame on you.”

First, those two things are not mutually exclusive.

Second, The Yetis were awesome – if you had seen them shred Arcade Fire’s “Rebellion,” you would agree!

While the beginning of the show may have been a bit shaky, with wind blowing the band’s papers around and a few rushed sound checks, The Yetis found their groove by the second half of the performance and took ownership of the moment, playing with visible joy and a healthy dose of swagger.

Bartels said the night was “A bit spontaneous, because we weren’t planning on playing outside, but it was fun. It felt really good to play ‘Seven Nation Army’ and ‘Don’t Let Me Down.’”

“The night was a lot of fun,” sophomore Holly Hiemstra remarked. “I really liked it when they played ‘Gold on the Ceiling.’ I also had never been to an outdoor concert at the Fruited Plain before, so that was cool too.”

One of the more heartwarming parts of the show occurred when The Yetis invited freshman Abby Grubbs and sophomore Ray Badudu up on stage at separate times to perform with them. Grubbs and Badudu, who form the duet group called The Basics, opened for the Yetis with a 9-song acoustic set featuring songs from Of Monsters and Men, Kodaline and Ed Sheeran, as well as other artists. Seeing The Yetis give their nod of appreciation and respect to the opening duo really brought the event full circle.

Within The Basics’ opening act and The Yetis’ full length performance, one of the subtler themes of the evening was youth. Five of the seven performers on Saturday night were underclassmen. Levi Smith and Seth Weirup, sophomore members of last year’s popular NCDC band Gopher Broke, were also in attendance, further highlighting a fact we should all be getting excited about here on campus: Dordt has

lots of young and talented musicians actively seeking chances to use their skills. Is there a greater amount of skilled musicians on campus than ever before? Probably not. Are more students looking to share their musical talents in live performances? Possibly. Would we all benefit from an increase in musical events? Absolutely.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters who possess musical talent, USE IT! There can never be too many musicians in town, and this town needs you! As for the rest of us with no apparent musical abilities, let us all hoist our (hypothetical) Heinekens high to salute those who will rock Sioux Center in the weeks and years to come.

The Basics will be performing next on Oct. 4 along with other students at the 55th Cafe. The Yetis did not provide a date for their next performance.